Drama & Theatre

Department of Drama & TheatreUndergraduate Studies

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I am delighted that you are considering coming to study in the Department of Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway.

Top-rated for teaching and research and with a distinctively creative campus community rated 14th in the world for Performing Arts (QS World University Rankings by Subject

2016), Royal Holloway has one of the largest and most influential Drama and Theatre departments in the world. Our academic staff cover a huge range of theatre and performance studies with particular strengths in contemporary British theatre, international and intercultural performance, theatre history, dance and physical theatre, and contemporary performance practices. Our state-of-the-art performance space, the Caryl Churchill Theatre, sits alongside the Boilerhouse Theatre and Noh Theatre, providing exemplary facilities for study and practice. Our proximity to London gives us unrivalled access to theatres, productions and practitioners, while the Surrey campus offers an intensive and stimulating creative environment.

Students studying Drama and Theatre Studies at Royal Holloway grapple with the big questions: about ourselves and our cultures, about how we make meaning and tell stories, and about ourselves in relation to other cultures, other times, and other forms of story-telling. Our students challenge themselves and learn a range of new skills while developing a sophisticated critical framework. In the process they interrogate the work of others and create and perform their own stories, their own dramas.

I hope very much that you will choose to study at Royal Holloway. Please take the time to visit us on one of our Open Days and see our department and facilities first hand or contact our Admissions Tutor if you would like to know more.

Dr Elaine McGirrHeAD Of DePARTmeNT

Welcome

Department of Drama & Theatre

MorE inforMation

This brochure is designed to complement Royal Holloway’s Undergraduate Prospectus and information on the department’s website at royalholloway.ac.uk/drama

It is also available as a PDf at royalholloway.ac.uk/studyhere

ContentsWhy study Drama & Theatre at Royal Holloway? 4

The Caryl Churchill Theatre – Contemporary performance 5

The Boilerhouse – Performance and the body 6

The Handa Noh Studio – International performance 7

Degree structure 8 & 9

Our creative campus and beyond 10

Your future career 11

CONTACT DeTAILSDepartment of Drama & theatre

HEaD of DEpartMEnt Dr elaine mcGirr elaine.mcgirr@royalholloway.ac.uk

aDMissions tutorDr Ashley Thorpe ashley.thorpe@royalholloway.ac.uk

GEnEral EnquiriEsdrama@royalholloway.ac.uk +44 (0)1784 276315

ConnECt WitH us

@RHULDrama

Royalholloway.ac.uk/drama

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Why study Drama & Theatre at Royal Holloway?• You will find your place as an informed theatre-maker.

many students come to us knowing that they want to pursue a career in the creative industries, but have too many interests to know exactly which job will be right for them. By studying a variety of practices, collaboratively and individually, you will gain knowledge of the industry as a whole and a valuable perspective of how your chosen specialism fits into the bigger picture.

• We prepare you for the future that you will make. By training you to become independent thinkers, practitioners and leaders, we give you the skills you will need to craft your career within or beyond the cultural sector. Ultimately, performance is about communication, about sharing a story and leading an audience to see things from your point of view.

• our uniquely broad curriculum spans the popular and the avant-garde, the local and the international, the contemporary and the historical.

• in our programmes, the text and the body, thinking and doing, work together. There is no distinction between theory and practice; theory is used to understand and inform practice, while practice helps elucidate theory. You will be assessed through performances, workshops, presentations, essays and critical reflections.

• as a campus university close to london you will get the best of both worlds. You will be part of an energetic creative hub that includes students studying music, media Arts, Creative Writing and english. The huge number of student societies will enable you to thrive in a creative and supportive campus environment. Our location close to London provides us with strong links to theatre companies and individual theatre artists, local communities and an international network of theatre scholars and makers. Students are regularly required to watch performances in London as part of the degree.

• students applying for combined courses with Creative Writing, Dance, English, languages or Music will enjoy an integrated degree based upon close co-operation between our distinctive departments.

If what you read inspires you to apply to Royal Holloway, you can find the latest details on admissions and entry requirements at royalholloway.ac.uk/coursefinder. We’d also encourage you to attend an Open Day, where you can see our world-class facilities first hand, visit royalholloway.ac.uk/opendays

“I decided to study Drama and Royal

Holloway as it provided that perfect 50/50

balance between critical and creative practice that I was looking for.

It’s such a privilege to be lectured by the

people whose books you are reading and then

really get to grips with the course in seminars.

With three performance spaces on campus and easy access to London,

what more could you want as a Drama

student?”Clement,

BA Drama & Theatre

stuDEnt ViEW

6FOR PERFORMING ARTS (QSS WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2016)

TH

IN THE UK

Named after one of the most influential British theatre writers of the last hundred years, the Caryl Churchill Theatre is a flexible fully equipped modern theatre, capable of handling sophisticated lighting and complex scenery, with seating for up to 178 people.

The Caryl Churchill Theatre – Contemporary performance

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We use the Caryl Churchill Theatre to investigate:

• Casting,raceandgender

• Contemporarytheatrecompaniesandpractitioners

• Directing

• Liveart

• Playwriting

• Politicaltheatre

• Post-warandcontemporaryBritishtheatre

The Boilerhouse is a converted 19th Century boiler room that once provided heating for Royal Holloway’s founders Building. This is a huge and atmospheric ‘found’ space in which we have installed a sprung dance floor. It is ideal for movement-based and environmental work, and the cobbled courtyard outside also offers an atmospheric performance space.

The Boilerhouse – Performance and the bodyWe use the Boilerhouse as a hub to explore:

• Dance

• Devising

• PhysicalTheatre

With its historical associations, the Boilerhouse is also used for the practical exploration of theatre history, including:

• Europeanmodernistperformance

•Naturalism

• Eighteenth-centuryperformance

• Renaissance

• Shakespeareinperformance

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Handa Noh Studio – International performanceAn asset unique to Royal Holloway, the Handa Noh Stage is the only permanently-standing Noh stage outside of Japan. It highlights the international work of the department, which includes:

• Australian&NewZealandTheatre

• Chinese&Japanesetheatre

• EastEuropeantheatre

•Migration,asylumandtheatreperformance

• Postcolonialtheatre

• SouthAsiandance

• South-EastAsianperformanceandpuppetry

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Degree structureAcross all pathways, the first year is a foundation year designed to equip all students with a shared set of reference points to enable the study of theatre at degree level. In the second year, you will return to each of these strands, but to a higher and more specialist level. In the final year, you will have the opportunity to take even more personal responsibility for your learning, building on the skills you have already acquired.

Throughout the degree, you will experience a great range of teaching styles, including lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops. Assessment takes a variety of forms, according to the needs of the different subject areas; the only mode that we do not use in the Department of Drama & Theatre is the formal timed examination.

first Year theatre & performance MakingYou will encounter a range of creative methods for work-shopping practice, and produce a 20-minute performance as a response to one company.

theatre & CultureThis course looks at the ways in which theatre reflects, intervenes and questions the culture around it. It will expand your horizons and introduce you to a range of unfamiliar practices.

theatre & textThis course provides you with enhanced skills in reading, performing and creating theatre from text.

theatre & ideasThis course shows how other disciplines like philosophy, physics, politics and sociology can inform theatre and how the theatre can be a forum for creatively interrogating those disciplines.

second Yeartheatre & performance Making 2You will choose an option that enables you to focus on a particular creative skill: for instance, Acting for Camera; Dance; Playwriting; Physical theatre; Site-based performance; Scenography.

theatre & Culture 2You will choose an option that enables you to consider the ways in which theatre and culture reflect and resist each other in a particular context, including: feminism, Popular theatre, Theatre for young audiences, Dancing bodies and global culture.

theatre & text 2Building upon your first year work, you will choose an option that focuses on a particular period or genre that interests you. These might include: Black & Asian theatre, Greek tragedy, Shakespeare, Staging the real.

theatre & ideas 2You will choose an option that further develops the dialogue between theatre and other disciplines by exploring key ideas to theatre practice. You might choose to explore Casting, Cultural heritage, ecology, Gender, or money.

third yearGroup projectIn groups of 8-10, you will develop a project for public performance under supervision from a tutor. Projects might focus on: Dance; Devising; Physical Theatre; Theatre for young audiences; Site-responsive performance; or the staging of text.

special project or DissertationYou will undertake an individual piece of independent study, with supervision from a tutor. Studies might take the form of a dissertation, a costume design portfolio; a blog; a web-based, print or digital resource pack; a play script; a group edited journal or book; a seminar; an installation; a portfolio of reviews; a stand-up comedy routine.

advanced option (practice)These practice-based options relate to key areas of staff research, and might include: Applied theatre; Contemporary european playwrights; Intercultural performance training; modern european directors; musical theatre; Performing celebrity and the early actress.

advanced option (theory)These theory-based options also relate to key areas of staff research, and might include: Contemporary Shakespeare; Love, gender and sexuality on stage and screen, museums and performance; Race relations in theatre, film and TV.

first Year theatre & performance Making

theatre & text

Moving BodiesThe course provides you with practice in contemporary dance technique (broadly defined) in order to facilitate your engagement with the ways that dance technique can help generate movement ideas.

World Dance HistoriesIn this course, you are exposed to a variety of dance practices occurring in the 20th and 21st century. You will examine what histories they tell, how they are told and explore their relevance to today.

second Yeartheatre & performance Making 2

theatre & text 2

Moving Bodies 2The course provides you with intermediate practice in contemporary dance technique (broadly defined). You will have the opportunity to build on the foundational experience from year one and deepen your reflective and technical skills.

Dancing Bodies, Global CultureThis course investigates the relationship between dance practices and its wider cultural contexts. This provides you with ideas to creatively engage with cultural studies when making performance.      

third yearGroup project

special project or Dissertation

Dance repertory and repertoireThis course provides students with the opportunity to develop a comprehensive embodied understanding of contemporary dance practices through continued participation in classes and workshops led by a specific practitioner.

Dance or theatre advanced option

BA Drama & Dance (WW45) - 50% Drama 50% Dance

BA Drama & Theatre (UCAS code: W440)

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first Year

theatre & performance Making theatre & textPlus three english courses:Introducing english PoetryRe-orientating the NovelThinking as a Critic

second Yearshakespeare from page to stageThis special combined english/Drama course involves the close study of four Shakespeare plays. The choice of plays depends upon research and teaching interests in both departments and on the current performance repertoire in the London area. Threaded through the course will also be key theoretical issues that cut across contemporary literary and dramatic criticism.

plus other options split equally between departments to make a total of four units

third yearEnglish-Drama research seminarA specialist research course co-taught across the two departments. The course balances literary analysis with devised performance practices.

Drama and English options of your choiceThese can be combined across departments in either a 2:1 or 1:2 ratio. for example, you could choose two modules in Drama and one in english.

BA English & Drama (QW34) - 50% English 50% Drama

Other joint honours – 50% DramaBA Classical Studies & Drama (QW84) BA Drama & music (WW43)

BA Comparative Literature and Culture & Drama (Q2W4) BA Drama & Philosophy (WV45)

BA Drama & Creative Writing (WW48) BA Drama & Spanish (WR41) - four years with third year abroad

BA Drama & German (WR42) - four years with third year abroad BA french & Drama (RW14) - four years with third year abroad

BA Drama & Italian (WR43) - four years with third year abroad

first Year

theatre & performance Making theatre & text

second Year

Your choice of any two courses in Drama.

third year (fourth Year for four year degrees)Your choice of any two courses in Drama.

BA Drama with Philosophy – 75% Drama 25% Philosophy

first Year theatre & performance Making

theatre & Culture

theatre & text

in philosophy:epistemology and metaphysicsPlus one other of your choice.

second YearYour choice of any three courses in Drama.

in philosophy:Introduction to european Philosophymind and World

third yearYour choice of any three courses in Drama, and one course in philosophy.

stuDY aBroaD

All of our degree programmes offer you the opportunity to spend an additional year studying abroad. There are two possible options:• UndertheSocratesscheme,wesendonestudenteachyeartoTrinityCollegeDublin;hereyoutakedramacoursesequivalenttothose

you would have studied at Royal Holloway.• UnderaCollegescheme,youcanapplyforaplacementintheUSA,Canada,JapanorAustralia(thisisacompetitiveschemewithlimited

places open to a number of departments).

postGraDuatE opportunitiEs

You can further develop your career in the department by pursuing an mA in our specialist areas:• MAAppliedandParticipatoryTheatre• MAContemporaryPerformancePractices• MAPlaywriting

Visit royalholloway.ac.uk/coursefinder for more details on these courses.Royal Holloway undergraduates who go on to study at masters level at Royal Holloway receive a 10% fee discount.  

Please see partner departments for the specific modules you will follow outside of Drama & Theatre.

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“There’s a great crossover between the

academic side of things and the practical,

extra-curricular side, which you can get

involved with whenever you want!”

Rachel , BA Drama & Theatre

Our creative campus and beyondThe wider campus and surrounding area also inspire performances, including site-specific and site responsive work, promenade performances, and work with and in the local community.

Our curriculum offers you the opportunity to explore theatre-making in the wider world through the study of areas such as:

• Appliedperformance• Communitytheatre• Site-specificperformance• Theatreeducation• Theatre&museums• Theatre&therapy

A student-led drama society is based in the department. Called Student Workshop, the society organises extra-curricular performances in all of our department spaces and organises workshops across the academic year. You can participate in performances as a director, actor, writer, or technician to help support your personal development.

Our undergraduates are able to book one of our five rehearsal rooms and many of our performance spaces outside of teaching hours.

stuDEnt ViEW

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This brochure was published in may 2016 and the information given was correct at that time. It is intended primarily for those considering admission to Royal Holloway, University of London as undergraduate students in 2016-17. Occasionally it may be necessary for the University to vary the content and delivery of programmes so we advise all applicants to refer to the website prior to making any application. full terms and conditions of admission can be found at royalholloway.ac.uk/studyhere.

Lyceum Youth Theatre, edinburghThe Salmon Youth Centre, LondonYouth music Theatre UKCanterbury Institute for the Performing ArtsBlock Stop Game makersLazarus Theatre CompanyNext Stage Theatre CompanyK Talent Artist managementDebi Allen AssociatesImperium management Talent Agencym&m Theatrical ProductionsOctagon Theatre Bolton

2020 CastingRLC Productions event managementBmS Salesmiro magazinemediacom 24-7 Ltdeuropean Bank for Reconstruction and DevelopmentAlpha Hospitals mental HealthSavantini HealthcareNational Citizen Service with The ChallengefutureSend foundationUnity Trust Schools and Academies

We are proud to be able to offer networking events with our alumni, which will allow you to explore a vast array of career options available to you, and you can ask our graduates how they pursued their own career pathway. We alert you to professional placements throughout the year as they become available, and organize a programme of placement activities for students in the summer term. These include opportunities to participate in professional skills development workshops, obtain industry-related work placements, or gain specialist assistance with preparing your CV. We actively support students wishing to perform their work publicly in festivals

such as at the edinburgh fringe, and we offer follow up workshops aimed to help you turn a project developed for edinburgh into an active theatre company.

We work closely with the College’s dedicated Careers Service to help you enhance your employability and prepare for the choices ahead. The Careers Service is open to you across the year, and they can assist with CV development, work placements, and even help you find part-time jobs to financially support your studies. They also offer themed career weeks, including ‘Creative and media Careers’ week.

“We are completely indebted to Royal Holloway for its amazing support - none of our future successes would have been possible without the encouragement we received during our time there”.Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez, Max and Ivan, award-winning comedy writer/performers, BA Drama & Theatre Studies.

Image: m

artha Pavlidou

Your future career

Whether you choose to work in the theatre industry or not, our degrees will give you:

Our very successful graduates embark on a wide variety of careers as well as further academic study, for example in acting, stage management, arts administration, journalism, teaching, health, marketing, and PR.

GraDuatE profilE

•Confidence and self-presentation skills.

•The ability to lead.

•Self-discipline, organisation, planning and self-motivation skills.

•Analytical skills, critical and independent thought through research.

•Communication skills, both written and oral.

• The ability to negotiate and handle interpersonal issues through the creation of original work in groups.

•The ability to construct arguments and present them persuasively.

•enhanced creativity and imagination.

•The ability to apply performance and production skills to communicate with an audience.

Some of our recent graduates have gone on to work for:

royal Holloway, university of london egham, Surrey, TW20 0eX T: +44 (0)1784 434455royalholloway.ac.uk

Royal Holloway is widely recognised on the world stage as one of the UK’s leading teaching and research universities. One of the larger colleges of the University of London, we are strong across the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. We were ranked 19th in the UK (129th in the world) by the Times Higher education World University Rankings 2015, which described us as ‘truly world class’.

As a cosmopolitan community, with students from 130 countries, we focus on the support and development of the individual. Our friendly and safe campus, west of central London, provides a unique environment for university study. We have been voted as one of the 16 most beautiful universities in the world (Daily Telegraph).